Now comes word that Matthew Vaughn, the director of Kick-Ass, has bought the film rights to one of Millar’s most recent comic books, Superior, which can basically be summed up as the movie Big starring a mish-mash of Superman/Captain Marvel instead of Tom Hanks.

“The hugely popular comic ‘Superior’, which is part of the Millarworld line, follows the tale of a young boy living with multiple sclerosis who’s granted a magic wish. He asks to be transformed into his favourite big screen action hero and uses his new super-powers to right the real world’s wrongs. Whereas most superheroes fight criminals and stop bank robberies, this little boy uses his abilities to end the war in the Middle-East, feed the starving, rescue people from natural disasters and anything else the public wants. But have these incredible powers and worldwide adulation come at a price? This dark, magical tale has been described by critics as Big meets Superman, a unique take on the superhero mythos with a magical element that appeals to Harry Potter fans as much as the traditional superhero audience. The movie rights to this book were snapped up by ‘Kick-Ass’ and ‘X-Men’ director Matthew Vaughn with a view to turning this into a Hollywood blockbuster.”

This is the second Mark Millar book that has been “optioned” since Kick-Ass was released. Supposedly, Tony Scott (Unstoppable) has committed to directing Millar’s critically-reviled Nemesis, too – though we haven’t heard anything about that in eleven months, so it’s entirely possible that that film has slipped into the ninth circle of development hell.

Kick-Ass, Nemesis, and Superior all happen to have had their film rights purchased before the comic books were even finished. This sort of thing has left Millar open to the criticism that he isn’t writing comics to write quality stories anymore – he’s writing them so he can make money by selling the ideas as films.

In fact, a comic Millar hasn’t even produced a single issue of yet – Supercrooks, another tale about super villains, this time in the vein of Ocean’s 11 – is apparently going to be directed by Spanish director Nacho Vigalando. If you believe that sort of thing.

Frankly, it would come as a massive surprise if any of these films actually made it to the big screen. Why, this late in the game, would Tony Scott make a film of Nemesis – a book few regular folk have heard about, and even fewer liked – when he has other projects on his plate? (He’s currently directing Emma’s War and producing a whole host of films/TV shows.)

Why would Kick-Ass 2 go into production when Kick-Ass 1 wasn’t all that successful and the comic book version of Kick-Ass 2 has been plagued by huge delays and poor reviews?

The point is: until Superior officially goes into production, it’s probably safe to assume it won’t go into production. Then again, Matthew Vaughn did have the following to say in the press release:

“I have always enjoyed working with Mark and his latest exciting project Superior is something that we are very much looking forward to making.”

Could Vaughn really make Superior happen before jumping in to, say, an X-Men: First Class sequel? Only time will tell for sure, but if you can’t tell yet – I’m doubtful.

What about you guys? Do you want to see Superior as a film? Let us know in the comments.